This week I’ve been listening to Newsjack.
There once was a time when Radio 4 comedy
was under the control of the Oxbridge mafia. Anyone who tried to join ‘the
family’ from outside the Home Counties was seen as interlopers, a threat to the
syndicate. Thankfully, things seem to have changed.
Now there are voices from other backgrounds. The station has even begun to
notice there are more women than Sandi Toksvig. Pat-on-the-back
satire and sanitized sketch shows are less frequent now; more exposure seems to
be given to comics with an opinion: Bridget Christie’s recent Minds The Gap was a brilliant attack on
sexism; Andrew O’Neill’s Pharmacist
Baffler tackled homophobia and Susan Calman’s Convicted defied the oxymoron Glaswegian vulnerability.
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| Punt and Dennis: Oxbridge mafia |
Another sign that radio has become more
inclusive is the show Newsjack. Newsjack has now been running for a
number of series, something I was unaware of. The ethos of the show is to
celebrate new talent. The beauty of the show is anyone can contribute. You can
be a comedian hoping to get work off the back of it or a moonlighter who just
does it for a bit of fun. An added bonus is you get paid £20 for a one-liner
and up to £40 for a sketch.
The topical show is presented by Nish
Kumar, an accomplished comedian, currently enjoying plaudits for his recent
Edinburgh show: Ruminations on Subjectivity.
He does his own material at the top of the show, but from then on all the
material comes from the public. This material is sifted from an avalanche of
submissions and then performed by professionals in front of a live
audience.
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| Performers at work |
The producers accept jokes in different forms: one-liners, sketches
and vox pops. The only caveat is that it must be based on the week’s news.
Given I don’t have a background in sketch comedy, I started by submitting
one-liners. Here are a few I wrote based on last week’s news:
- Madonna blames cape for fall. Marvel respond by recalling Batman for safety checks.
- Nigel Farage removes pint and cigar to speak out against rumours of ill-health.
- OFCOM investigates ‘This Morning’ bondage segment. Producers have expressed excitement over possible punishment.
Although none of these got accepted, I do
think they’re good jokes and felt confident writing them. The vox pops I really
struggled with though. There, you have to make a 'talking head' funny. An
example of one broadcast was: ‘I’m amazed Eddie Redmayne got an Oscar for his
Stephen Hawking impression. When I did mine at work I got a disciplinary from HR.’ Here was my attempt: “I think Cameron’s right. Free speech in university
should be curbed. They should charge £9000 a year for
it.” I just find writing
a joke as a character in the 1st person a lot more difficult than
writing a joke in
the 3rd person. From a writer’s point of view, I’m
hoping to develop my skills over the series and maybe even give sketch comedy a go.
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| Generic writer's block pic |
With four more shows to run, there’s still
a chance for me and you to get something on. So have a look at the bottom of the page for details on how to
submit.
Either way, listen to the show because it’s
very funny and supports new talent.
Newsjack is on Radio 4 Extra, Thursday at 10.30 pm.
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